Infinitely Losing My Edge
Yeah, I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
The kids are coming up from behind.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids from Lithuania and from Johannesburg.
But I was there.
I was there in 1979.
I was there at the first Josef K show in Edinburgh.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge to the kids whose footsteps I hear when they get on the decks.
I'm losing my edge to the internet seekers who can tell me every member of every good group from 1961 to 1977.
I'm losing my edge.
To all the kids in Halifax and Portland.
I'm losing my edge to the art-school Bremen kids in little jackets and borrowed nostalgia for the unremembered nineties.
I'm losing my edge.
I'm losing my edge.
I can hear the footsteps every night on the decks.
But I was there.
I was there in 1971 at the first Neu! practice in a loft in Düsseldorf.
I was working on the oboe sounds with much patience.
I was there when Tom Verlaine started up his first band.
I told him, "Don't do it that way. You'll never make a dime."
I was there.
I was the first guy playing Al Stewart to the punk kids.
I played it at the Troubador.
Everybody thought I was crazy.
We all know.
I was there.
I was there.
I've never been wrong.
But I'm losing my edge to better-looking people with better ideas and more talent.
And they're actually really, really nice.
I'm losing my edge.
I heard you have a compilation of every good song ever done by anybody.
Every great song by Public Enemy. All the underground hits.
All the Germs tracks. I heard you have a vinyl of every The J.B.'s record on German import.
I heard that you have a white label of every seminal crunk hit - 1985, '86, '87.
I heard that you have a CD compilation of every good '70s cut and another box set from the '80s.
I hear you're buying a harpsichord and a 808 and are throwing your macbook out the window because you want to make something real. You want to make a One Last Wish record.
I hear that you and your band have sold your theremin and bought an oboe.
I hear that you and your band have sold your oboe and bought a theremin.
I hear everybody that you know is more relevant than everybody that I know.
But have you seen my records?
Neil Young,
Kool Moe Dee,
Quadrant,
The Gun Club,
Crispian St. Peters,
Grauzone,
Red Lorry Yellow Lorry,
Soft Cell,
Mandrill,
Eric B and Rakim,
Mars,
The Fire Engines,
The Shadows of Knight,
Eli Mardock,
Lou Reed & Metallica,
Bang on a Can All-Stars,
Drive Like Jehu,
48th St. Collective,
Nik Kershaw,
Altered Images,
Suburban Knight,
The Toasters,
The Tremeloes,
The Seeds,
Theoretical Girls,
Barry Ungar,
Davy DMX,
The Dave Clark Five,
Gerry Rafferty,
Jerry's Kids,
Art Ensemble Of Chicago,
Fear,
MDC,
Tommy Roe,
Blancmange,
The Victims,
Motorama,
Chrome,
Todd Rundgren,
Lou Reed & John Cale,
Warsaw,
the Human League,
One Last Wish,
The Smiths,
Bootsy Collins,
Thee Headcoats,
Iggy Pop,
Subhumans,
Ossler,
Smog,
Underground Resistance,
MC5,
Justin Hinds & The Dominoes,
Eddi Front,
Harmonia,
the Fania All-Stars,
Dawn Penn,
K-Klass,
Scientists,
Mantronix,
Heaven 17,
The Monochrome Set,
Electric Prunes,
Brothers Johnson, Brothers Johnson, Brothers Johnson, Brothers Johnson.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.
You don't know what you really want.